It’s the most wonderful time of the week…

• Fangraphs Live: The Numbers Puppets Take Manhattan (OCD Chick). While SABR40 was going on in Atlanta, FanGraphs Live took place in another part of the east coast. Amanda Rykoff offers a nice recap of the proceedings. [h/t Hardball Times]
• Why Latos is good (it’s not just his stuff) (Friarhood). Friend of Ducksnorts Richard Dorsha talks about everyone’s favorite young right-hander: “Latos has a swagger that enables him to throw pitches the batter would never expect.” I know “swagger” is overused, but if it fits, it fits.
• Baseball Dreams: Striking Out in the Dominican Republic (Time). According to this article by Sean Gregory, “The D.R. is baseball’s puppy mill. The buscones develop and sometimes feed and house these teenage players, with the intent of selling them to the highest bidder, a major league team willing to fork over thousands, if not millions, of dollars to secure a prospect.” I have finally started reading Marcos Breton’s Away Games. My only problem with it so far is that the heavy-handedness of the writing sometimes undermines the message, which is an important one. The Dominican situation saddens me, but apparently not enough to stop supporting the teams that exploit it. [h/t BBTF]
• Scouting Reports from the 2010 Area Code Games (Baseball Analysts). Rich gives a detailed account of one of the top amateur showcases. This is a must-read, especially if you are planning to attend (as am I) the Aflac All-American Baseball Classic on Sunday at Petco Park.
• MacLane’s photostream (Flickr). This has nothing whatsoever to do with baseball, but as a LEGO aficionado, I think I’m in love. [h/t Slashdot]
• Let’s talk about feelings (Woe Doctor!). Here’s another take on Jonathan Sanchez’s comments about the Padres: “I’m not expecting Hairston to be spitting fire or anything, but I expected at least a little bit of finger-pointing while whispering ‘scoreboard.’ ” Of course, if you take care of business, there will be plenty of time to point at the scoreboard later… assuming you can find it amidst all the champagne.
• Pirates Mathematically Eliminated From Major League Baseball (The Onion). Bringin’ teh funny. [h/t Hardball Times]
• The problems with defensive stats (SI.com). Tim Marchman weighs in with some thoughts on the subject, as does Joe Posnaski. [h/t BBTF]
• Jed Hoyer’s First Year (MLB Trade Rumors). Tim Dierkes likes what the new GM has done so far, and why not?
• WAR and the Rule 5 Draft (Baseball Analysts). Jeremy Greenhouse reminds us that the Padres once snagged Bip Roberts. He also reminds us that they lost Shane Mack and Joakim Soria.
• 40 years ago today (8/12/10) (Hardball Times). Chris Jaffe recalls the time Bob Gibson worked all 14 innings against the Padres.
• Another look at replacement level (Hardball Times). Jeff Sackmann delivers food for thought… tasty, tasty food.
• Under the Radar, on Top of the N.L. (New York Times). Tyler Kepner offers refreshingly in-depth analysis of the Padres. Much of this will be review material for fans, but it’s still worth reading, as is Kepner’s companion blog entry. [h/t reader parlo]

Sweeping the Pirates was nice. Taking care of business in San Francisco would be even nicer.